Client: Total Kenya

Category: Internal Communication

Date: March 2020

This is a short description of what we did for Total Kenya during International Women’s Day.

The communications department at Total Kenya got in touch with us and asked us if we had any ideas on how to celebrate International Women’s Day. They were looking for an activation that could take place during their Monday all hands staff briefing and capture the spirit of the 2020 International Women’s Day theme – Equal for Equal.

An equal world is an enabled world and ensuring equality in the workplace ensures that we all help to forge a gender equal world. Our major role was not only to help our client celebrate women’s achievements but also communicate the need for collaboration and working together in creating an equal for equal workplace and world. As the Global organizers of IWD say “collectively, we can make change happen. Collectively, we can each help to create a gender equal world”.

As opposed to having a training session or workshop we thought that the best way to pass on the Equal for Equal message was through a hands-on approach by getting the Total Kenya staff to do something physically. We are more likely to remember things we did with our hands as opposed to something that was said. Our solution was to offer a creative solution that included everyone on the staff team.

Art is a great way to celebrate an event – celebrate in the moment and, remember the moment in the future. We decided to use to forms of art – painting and photography to commemorate the 2020 International Women’s Day.

We partnered with a local artist to create a mural of a lady with her “hands out” equal pose up her hands in the Equal for Equal. We delivered this mural and specially made markers to the Total Kenya offices for the staff team to begin painting in. A mural is more powerful tool than a signature/ pledge wall because it can be placed in the office for everyone to see. Also because of the collaborative element staff members can see the part they played in creating a piece of beauty.

Our second approach was to go around the office and take photos of different staff members either holding up an Equal for Equal photo-frame or strike the “hands out” equal pose.